BHUBANESWAR: The budget session of the Odisha Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday morning by Speaker Surama Padhy three days ahead of schedule after the House passed the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and Odisha State Highways Authority Bill, 2025 following a night-long marathon debate.
This was for the first time in the history of Odisha Assembly that proceedings continued for the entire night on Wednesday and the House was adjourned sine die at 7.05 am.
The Odisha Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2024 which was opposed by the BJD, was debated for more than 12 hours and passed at 4.30 am. Similarly, the Odisha State Highways Authority Bill, 2025 was passed in the House at 6.29 am.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and all the 13 ministers were present in the House during discussion of the Bills. However, Congress members were absent as they have been suspended from the House for seven days by the Speaker for creating unruly scenes in the House.
“The third session of the 17th Odisha Legislative Assembly commenced on February 13 and was scheduled to continue till April 5. However, keeping in view that no more important business is left, the House has been adjourned sine die,” the Speaker said.
Earlier, government chief whip Saroj Kumar Pradhan had moved a proposal to adjourn the Assembly which was supported by members of the treasury bench. During the budget session, the chief minister, who is also in charge of the Finance department, presented the annual budget of `2,90,000 crore for the 2025-26 fiscal on February 17.
The session witnessed a lot of ruckus for which the proceedings remaining adjourned for several days. Proceedings were smooth for the last three days after suspension of the Congress members.